The prime ministers of France and Japan attended high-level talks in Tokyo on enhancing nuclear cooperation between the two countries. The talks included cooperation in nuclear safety and research on decommissioning nuclear facilities.

The final roof panel of the temporary cover over the damaged reactor building of unit 1 at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been removed. The walls of the structure remain around the reactor building.

The European Union should maintain at least the current capacity of nuclear generation up to and beyond 2050, entailing the commissioning of more than 100 nuclear power reactors over the next 35 years, Foratom said 2 October. This target would deliver 122 GWe of nuclear capacity between 2025 and 2045.

Switzerland's Council of States has agreed to avoid putting legal limits on the operating lives of the country's nuclear power reactors. It has also rejected a proposal that was supported by the Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (ENSI), of requiring operators to submit a long-term operating concept every 10 years once a reactor reaches 40 years of service.

Industry leaders last week debated how to bridge the gap between the World Nuclear Association's vision of an extra 1000 GWe of new nuclear power capacity by 2050, and the practicalities of working within current political, regulatory and financial environments.

Global uranium inventories upwards of 1.1 billion pounds U3O8 equivalent (423,100 tU) are likely to drive the uranium markets for some time to come, affecting not just uranium suppliers but also the conversion and enrichment industries, according to the Ux Consulting Company (UxC).

China's first AP1000 reactor, Sanmen 1, is expected to begin commercial operation in September 2016, while governmental permission is expected for work to start on the first Chinese-designed CAP1400 by the end of this year.

World nuclear generating capacity is set to continue expanding over the coming decades, although at a slower pace than previously anticipated, according to newly published International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) projections.

A consortium led by Westinghouse has been awarded a contract for dismantling the reactor pressure vessel and internals of unit 1 at the Philippsburg nuclear power plant in Germany. The unit shut down in 2011.